OPA

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposal for legislation that will eliminate numerous administrative problems that have been encountered in the sale of timber from Indian lands, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.

Two main types of changes are involved. One would permit a continuation of contract sales of timber from lands owned by individual Indians after the trust or other restriction on alienation is removed, in whole or in part. The other would authorize the Department to enter into timber sale contracts for tracts in multiple ownership with the approval of those owning a majority interest. Present law requires the approval of all owners in such cases, Mr. Ernst said, and this is frequently difficult to obtain.

A number of other less significant changes are also involved in the proposal. The proposal is in the form of an amendment of the Act of June 25, 1910, which governs the sale of timber grown on Indian trust lands.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposal for legislation that would donate 640 acres in Sandoval County, New Mexico, to the Indian Pueblos of Zia and Jemez, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.

The land to be donated is part of a much larger area known as the Ojo del Espiritu Santo Grant which was purchased by the Federal Government as submarginal land in 1935. Under a 1956 law about 42,000 acres of the grant was turned over in Federal trusteeship to the Zia Pueblo and an additional 36,000 acres to the Pueblo of Jemez. The 640-acre area, however, was reserved by the Federal Government as a headquarters site for range personnel of the U. S. Forest Service.

Subsequently this acreage was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management by Executive Order of November 6, 1958. It is now excess to the needs of that Bureau.

In submitting the proposed legislation, the Department pointed out that the Indians of the two pueblos have a need for the site in connection with their livestock operations on the rest of the Ojo del Espiritu Santa Grant that was given to them. The two pueblos, Mr. Ernst added, have been using the area jointly and this arrangement has worked to the satisfaction of both parties.

Appointment of John B. Keliiaa as superintendent of the Jicarilla Apache Indian Agency, Dulce, N. Mex., succeeding Guy Robertson, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Mr. Keliiaa has been serving as acting superintendent of the agency since January 5 when Mr. Robertson transferred to the post of assistant area direct in the Indian Bureau’s office at Sacramento, Calif. He will take over full responsibilities of the position February 23.

Born at Oakland, Calif., in 1923 of Hawaiian and American Indian descent, Mr. Keliiaa joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1950 as a junior management assistant in the office at Albuquerque, N. Max. In 1951 he transferred to the Bureau’s central office in Washington, D. C., and served there approximately three years as a social science analyst.

When the area office was established at Gallup, N. Mex., in 1954, he was named assistant to the area director and remained in that post until 1956. For the past two years he has been serving as tribal relations officer of the United Pueblos Agency with headquarters at Albuquerque.

He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley in political science and had two years of service in the Air Force during World War II.

A $116,373.90 contract for construction work on 5.603 miles of road on the Soboba and Pechanga Indian Reservations in Riverside County, California, has been awarded to the Hubbs Equipment Co., P.O. Box 17; Colton, California, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The Hubbs bid was the lowest of sixteen received. The others ranged from $117,597.05 to $159,761.00. Bids were opened by the Bureau of Public Roads.

The construction work is part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs program of improving roads on Indian Reservations to acceptable standards and transferring them to county highway systems. Upon completion, the mileage will be incorporated in the system of Riverside County.

Properties of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon, including the 694,000-acre tribal forest, have been appraised at a "realization value" of $121,659,618, Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson said today.

In a letter to Thomas B. Watters of Klamath Falls, management specialist supervising the Klamath termination program under the act of August 13, 1954, Under Secretary Chilson authorized Mr. Watters to proceed immediately with arrangements for a tribal election as provided in the termination statute.

In this election adult members of the tribe will decide for themselves and their minor dependents whether to remain in the tribal organization and participate in a plan of management of their share of the tribal assets or to withdraw and receive cash payment for their proportionate share of the tribal assets. The law provides for sale of a sufficient portion of the tribal property to pay off the withdrawing members.

In the letter to Mr. Watters, Under Secretary Chilson accepted the management plan for the residual tribal estate submitted by Mr. Watters, and this plan will be submitted to the members of the tribe for their consideration in determining their election to withdraw or to remain in the tribe. The plan provides for a private management trust of the tribal properties remaining after the "withdrawal" lands have been sold and the Federal trusteeship has been terminated.

The "realization value" given in the appraisal is defined as the price the tribal properties might be expected to bring if sold over a two-year period starting next August or September, as required by the law in its present form. It is also based on the assumption that approximately 70 percent of the tribal members will elect to withdraw, as indicated by a survey of tribal members made by Stanford Research Institute about two years ago.

Thus the “realization value”, Under Secretary Chilson explained, represents merely a reasonable expectation of the amount that may be realized if the law remains unchanged and approximately 70 percent of the members elect to withdraw.

As provided in the Klamath Termination Law, arrangements for the appraisal were made by the management specialists. Western Timber Services, Arcata, California, was the prime contractor.

The appraisal covered all tribal properties embraced within the 862,657-acre Klamath Reservation which was originally established under a treaty of 1864. This included 693,997 acres of forest land (predominantly ponderosa pine), 127,938 acres of rangeland, 23,421 acres of marshland, and farm, brush and wastelands as well as buildings, lookout towers and personal property belonging to the tribe.

In the appraisal the forest lands were divided into 96 logging units of varying size ranging all the way from 20 acres up to 91,000. Under the present law the forest property would have to be sold in such units as established by the management specialist.

The Department of the Interior today announced it intends to issue regulations governing removal of trust restrictions from lands belonging to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of eastern Oklahoma, without application by the owner.

The proposed regulations are in line with a 1955 congressional law which authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Interior to remove such restrictions in cases where he believes the Indian owner can manage his own affairs "with such reasonable degree of prudence and wisdom as will be apt to prevent him from losing his property or the benefits thereof.”

The Department intends to delegate authority to make these determinations to the Indian Bureau's Area Director for eastern Oklahoma with headquarters at Muskogee.

Under the proposed regulations, the Area Director would be called upon to consider a wide range of factors in making such determinations. These include the extent of the Indian owner's education, training and experience; his record in making an adequate living for himself and his family; the extent of his assets not covered by trust restrictions; his record in using assets or funds coming into his possession; and ether similar factors.

In all cases where the Area Director decided that the trust restrictions should be removed, the Indian owner would be given 60 days’ advance notice before actual issuance of the removal order and opportunity to present reasons why the order should not be issued. If the Area Director accepted these reasons, the order would net be issued. However, if he still felt the order should be issued, he would notify the Indian owner to that effect and the owner would be given another 30 days in which to appeal, through the Area Director, to the Secretary.

All removal orders would become effective six months after the date of issuance. During this period the Indian owner would have the additional right under the 1955 law to appeal to the county court in his county of residence to set aside the order. Boards of county commissioners also would have a right of appeal to the county courts for cancellation of the restriction removal orders.

The principal effects of an order removing restrictions would be to give the Indian full ownership and control of his property; to eliminate Federal and county controls over its lease, mortgage or sale; to make it taxable in most instances; and to terminate the Indian's eligibility for special services provided to him by the Federal Government because of his status as an Indian.

About 12,000 members of the Five Civilized Tribes--Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Creek-- now own property subject to trust restrictions. Nearly all are over 50 years of age.

The proposed regulations deal only with removal of trust restrictions in the absence of an application from the Indian owner. Orders removing restrictions upon applications of the owner have been issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for many years past.

A $51,306.45 contract for road construction on the Big Pine Reservation at Big Pine, Inyo County, California, has been awarded.to J. T. Smith Company, San Fernando, California, the Department of the Interior announced today.

It was the lowest of the fourteen bids received.

The construction of the 2.66 miles of road will give access to existing residential areas and other areas within the reservation.

The work is part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs program for improving Indian roads to standards acceptable for incorporation in county road systems. Upon completion, these roads are to become Inyo County roads.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today called attention to the proposed roll of the Ottawa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma which was published in the Federal Register March 21, 1958.

The roll, comprising 549 names, was compiled under the Ottawa Termination Act of 1956 by the Indian Bureau's area office at Muskogee, Okla. Appeals contesting the inclusion or omission of any name on or from the roll may be filed with the Secretary within 60 days of the date of publication. Only those people on the final roll after disposition of all appeals are entitled under the Termination Act to share in the benefits of tribal property.

Award of an $112,758 contract for grading, draining, and crushed gravel surfacing of 12.983 miles of road on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, from U. S. Highway 212 north to the Thunder Butte Indian settlement along the Moreau River, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bid, by E. Stoltenberg &Son of Naper, Nebraska, was the lowest of' 19 received. Higher bids ranged from $119,065.71 to $162,760.61.

When completed the road will provide an all-weather route from Thunder Butte to Dupree, Faith, Eagle Butte and other communities on and adjacent to the Cheyenne River Reservation. The construction is being undertaken as a part of the Indian Bureau’s broad program of bringing reservation roads up to standard so that they can be transferred to the county highway systems.

The work under this contract includes 304,842 cubic yards of unclassified excavation, 25,296 cubic yards of crushed gravel surface course, 3,696 linear feet of culvert pipe, and 94,942 feet of right-of-way fencing.

Legislation to lift mineral lease limitations that have hampered the development of Indian tribal lands has been submitted to Congress by the Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary Roger C. Ernst announced today.

Specifically, the proposed legislation would remove the 10-year limit on nonproducing leases which, Assistant Secretary Ernst said, prevents tribes in some cases from realizing the full benefit of their mineral assets.

Under present law, the la-year limit applies to all tribal lands except those of the Five Civilized Tribes, the Osage Tribe and the Quapaw Tribe, all of Oklahoma. No such limitation is imposed on lands of individual Indians or on the holdings on non-Indian individual’s or groups.

Mr. Ernst said that the present restrictions are "discriminatory” and place all but the three exempted tribes at a disadvantage by subjecting them to a restriction not applicable to other Indians or non-Indians having mineral assets.

"In the case of unproven areas where extended exp1C'ration is necessary, a prospective lessee may be unwilling to incur the necessary expenses if he is required to get into production within 10 years or risk loss of his lease," Mr. Ernst said.

Mr. Ernst said that there was also definite need for authority to permit a lessee to shut down operations for a limited time without forfeiting his lease. A tribe can protect itself fr0m unnecessary delays by including in the lease a requirement for an annual minimum royalty in lieu of production, he pointed out.

Besides removing the 10-year limitation, the recommended legislation would also permit the inclusion of Indian tribal lands in unitization agreements covering all types of mineral development.

Another change embraced in the Department-sponsored amendment is the removal of a specific restriction applying to the tribally reserved mineral assets in lands on the Crow Reservation in Montana where the surface was allotted years ago to individual tribal members. The restriction, which would be eliminated, now provides that leases for development of these tribally reserved minerals may not extend beyond June 3, 1970, which is the expiration date for tribal ownership of the assets. This limitation, the Department pointed out, is making it difficult for the Tribe to find any lessees at all.

In addition, the Department’s proposal would make a number of minor changes to clarify the present law that governs mineral leases of tribal lands.